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John Launer, senior clinical lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic, London, and an associate director at the London GP Deanery

jlauner{at}londondeanery.ac.uk

Many of the books in the Hebrew Bible take the form of histories, while some are collections of poetry or prophecy, and a few are like short novels. The Book of Job, uniquely, is a play. Its brief prologue tells of the catastrophes inflicted by God on the hero, a wealthy and virtuous farmer. These include the deaths of all his children and servants, the loss of his entire livestock, and affliction with a vile skin disease. In the verse drama that then follows, Job bemoans his fate in a series of chilling suicidal laments: “Let the day perish …